(a) Field of the Invention
A torque-actuated clutch is disclosed, characterized in that being capable of controlling a clutch device to perform operations of coupling or disengaging with the driving torque, and being equipped with a relay transmission structure assembly (104) between a rotary prime motive end (101) and an output-end clutch structure (1052) installed at an output end (102), the relay transmission structure assembly (104) is installed with a relay coupling structure (204) having an active side of relay coupling structure and a passive side of relay coupling structure, the prime motive end (101) is provided with a limiting structure (115) for limiting relative positions of the relay transmission structure assembly (104) and the prime motive end (101);
a limit-torque sliding damping device (106) is installed between the relay transmission structure assembly (104) and the static housing (107) and is rotated in a first rotation direction at the prime motive end (101), so when the active side of relay coupling structure of the relay coupling structure (204) installed in the relay transmission structure assembly (104) is driven, a damping effect is generated by the limit-torque sliding damping device (106) installed between the relay transmission structure assembly (104) and the static housing (107) such that the passive side of relay output coupling structure is driven by the active side of relay coupling structure to be moved, and thereby to drive the relay transmission structure assembly (104) and a relay output clutch structure (1051) installed in the relay transmission structure assembly (104) to perform closing/opening operations with the output-end clutch structure (1052) installed at the output end (102) so as to transmit rotary kinetic energy, and to force a recovering actuation spring (120) provided between the relay output clutch structure (1051) and the output-end clutch structure (1052) being tightened;
when the rotary driving torque at the prime motive end (101) is no longer provided, through actions of the recovering actuation spring (120), the relay transmission structure assembly (104) is returned and the relay output clutch structure (1051) and the output-end clutch structure (1052) are separated, thereby the output end (102) is released.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A conventional single-way clutch (S.W.C.) or an over running clutch (O.R.C) has following transmission features:
when an active side is driven in one rotational direction, e.g. the clockwise direction, a passive side is able to be linked; on the other hand, when the passive side is driven in the counterclockwise direction, the active side is able to be linked;
when the active side is driven in the counterclockwise direction, the passive side is not able to be linked; when the passive side is driven in the clockwise direction, the active side is not able to be linked, the abovementioned are its transmission features;
when the active side is desired to be driven in one of the directions, e.g. the clockwise direction, the passive side is able to be linked for rotational outputting, and when the passive side is driven in the counterclockwise direction, the active side is not able to be linked, which is not the function that the conventional single-way transmission device can provide.